Brier Hill residents appeal to have post office relocated to new community center

BRIER HILL - Residents are appealing to the U.S. Postal Service to move the communitys office into the newly constructed community center behind the Brier Hill Fire Station.

Fire department building committee Chairman James R. Lowery said the community center, located at the intersection of School Street and Route 37, would be better for the post office and the community.

It will put them back on the main drag with more exposure, Mr. Lowery said.

Currently the office is located at 39 County Route 2 in a 934-square-foot building, Postal Service spokeswoman Maureen P. Marion said. The Postal Service pays $10,650 a year to lease the building.

Mrs. Marion said their lease expires at the end of February 2015, and the Postal Service will begin negotiating a new lease soon.

At this moment its premature for us to be discussing too much about the lease, Mrs. Marion said.

However, Mrs. Marion said, the Postal Service has to consider practicalities as it enters into lease negotiations.

Its always a lot easier for us to stay, if we can arrange the pricing, than leave, she said. Sometimes just the cost of moving offsets the gains of moving to a new location. We really try to focus on the expenses that we need to make and the expenses that would be nice to make are pushed to the side.

But community members arent planning to go unheard.

Resident Tammie L. Mace said community members are passing around a petition that will be presented to the Postal Service advocating for the location change.

Anyone interested in signing the petition can find copies at the Langbrook Meadows Golf and Country Club, 95 Hamel Road, Blackstone Bay Outpost, 2727 Route 12, and Echoes on the Lake, 3301 County Route 6.

Its probably a win-win for both the Postal Service and the fire department, Mrs. Mace said.

Mr. Lowery said the Postal Service would be able to lay out their own design for the new location at the community center, which is still unfinished.

The department is in the process of raising roughly $200,000 to complete the center.

Weve got 600 square feet available for them, Mr. Lowery said, adding that If they design it better they dont need as much space as they have at the current building.

Mr. Lowery said the department hasnt discussed a lease price yet.

I would caution against any false optimism that a petition will be the deciding factor [in a decision to move], Mrs. Marion said.

But Mr. Lowery said community members plan on handing in the petition regardless.

It shows them the voice of the community, he said.

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